The 20-page document published on March 20th looked into the current touring model often used in the dance music industry. It also proposed some ways to help lower the carbon footprint to build a greener industry.
It’s important to remember that this report is only an estimate made from publicly available data. Although the results cannot be independently verified, it still gives a good indication of things.
The report is made from data compiled using Resident Advisor’s now-archived list of top 1000 DJs in 2019. In total, those DJ’s are estimated to have taken 51,000 flights to travel 117,000,000 KM and burn 3,200,000 litres of fuel which would emit 35,000,000 Kg of CO2 into the air. For comparison, that’s similar to the electricity used by 20,000 households in one full year.
There is also a disparity between the busiest and least-busy DJs, as those who are more popular on average play more gigs outside of their home country. This meant the 10 most frequent travellers emitted a similar amount of carbon to the bottom 207 combined. Overall, the average artist had a footprint of 35 tonnes, and that’s 17 times higher than what the IPCC recommends for a personal footprint in order to curb runaway climate change.
After making predicted findings about the carbon footprint of travelling DJs, the report suggests some ways that people can lower their carbon emissions. The suggestions for lowering emissions are not only for DJs but also event promoters, agents, artists and ravers. Booking local DJs, only going to gigs in your local area or choosing to have a green rider are all ideas put forward by the report.
Closing out the report is a list of the top 1000 DJs ranked in order of their carbon footprint, the top three are Innervision’s artist, Trikk at No.1, followed by Richy Ahmed at No.2 and Rebekah at No.3.
It doesn’t appear to be mentioned in the report, but the geographical location is of course also a factor, as a DJ based in Australia who is most popular in Europe might have a carbon footprint higher than someone living in Germany, simply because of where they call home.
Clean Scene is a volunteer organisation headed up by Eilidh McLaughlin, Eva Fineberg (AKA Eva) and Fallon MacWilliams (AKA Darwin). The full report called “Last Night A DJ Took A Flight” is available HERE
